Hit and niggle: Wade

IT WOULDN'T be a Border-Gavaskar series without a bit of niggle and Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade is expecting both sides to show plenty of passion when the first Test starts on February 22.

Wade, captain of Australia in the two-day tour match that started on Tuesday in Chennai against an Indian Board President's XI, says his quicks don't plan their verbal battles and won't be following the method used so successfully by pace great Glenn McGrath in targeting batsmen.

''Not at all. A few of our fast bowlers have got white-line fever so they don't plan too much for these things,'' Wade said. ''They just walk out on the ground and …

''India compete hard and so do we. I think that's why over the years there have been so many tough contests.

''There's a great history between both teams. Both teams will go as hard as they can on the field but I'm sure after the game everything will be fine.''

Fiery spinner Harbhajan Singh has been recalled to India's Test squad and says he's itching to take on his favourite opponents.

The Indians are smarting from their 2-1 Test-series loss to England at home in December and were crushed 4-0 on last summer's tour of Australia.

But Australia has won just one of its past eight Test series in India - in 2004, when led by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.

Wade denied it was a good time to play India, which is fifth in the Test rankings - two places below Australia.

''There were a lot of people saying that about South Africa and Sri Lanka coming to Australia to play us,'' Wade said. ''We used that to fuel our fire a little bit.''

Australia lost its three-Test series 1-0 to top-ranked South Africa and swept the Lankans 3-0.

''There's no way that coming to India is easy by any stretch. It's going to be a tough series, especially in these conditions,'' Wade added.

''I'm not going to give any fuel to the fire there.''

AAP

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